Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2886 Master Qingsong 104.0
Upon hearing her great-grandfather's words, Jin Miaomiao almost dropped the meat she was holding. She quickly stuffed it back into her mouth, took a sip of tea, and then swallowed the meat.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Nobody's going to take it from you."

The Third Grandfather was both amused and exasperated by her appearance. He glanced at Xue Mu's grill, where the meat was still not ready, while Xia Chen had finished grilling another batch of fish. He quickly told Xia Chen to give Jin Miaomiao two pieces.

"No, I didn't. I was just a little surprised. You described the Yun family as a den of dragons and tigers, which sounds very scary." Jin Miaomiao took the fish meat that Xia Chen handed her, checked that there were no bones, and then exchanged hers with Shen Cha's. "Master, don't you feel oppressed living in a place like this? Haven't you ever thought about leaving?"

“Even ordinary clansmen don’t leave easily. If the head of the Yun family leaves, wouldn’t that cause a complete upheaval?” Shen Cha raised an eyebrow, took a bite of the grilled fish belly on her plate, and said, “Actually, it’s not that scary. It’s not exactly a den of dragons and tigers. Most of the existing large families are probably similar, right?”

“Little Tea Sister is right. The major families that stand tall in this world are all more or less the same internally.” Xiao Fengqi placed a plate of fish meat, which had been cleaned of bones, in front of Qi Zhifeng. “Eat slowly. I don’t know if I’ve cleaned it all out. There are probably still some very small and fine bones. Don’t get pricked.”

"Okay, Brother Fengqi, thank you, Brother Fengqi!"

Qi Zhifeng smiled at Xiao Fengqi and continued eating, paying no attention to their conversation; he was simply listening, not really interested.

“Xiao Cha and Brother Xiao are both right. Families that have survived for over a century and still hold their own all have their own set of survival rules. Their strictness is mainly because there are too many people and the operations have expanded too much. Without these strict family rules and strict family precepts to keep order, who knows what might have happened.” Xue Ruitian agreed with Shen Cha and Xiao Fengqi’s words. “As the saying goes, without rules, there can be no order, and there is truth to that. A family without its own family rules, and without enforcing its own family rules, is no different from a pile of loose sand.”

“Yes!” Xiao Fengqi nodded, gave Jin Miaomiao a bitter smile, and said, “Not to mention anything far away, just look at my family right now. Isn’t my family a good example? The main reason why the Xiao family was destroyed was that we didn’t have enough control over our clansmen, which led them to cause so much trouble. In the end, we could only rebuild after the destruction.”

"Now that you mention it," Jin Miaomiao nodded, "it seems to make a lot of sense."

“It’s not just reasonable, it’s reality!” Xiao Fengqi smiled helplessly. “I, a Liao citizen, have heard of the Yun family. Families like theirs have stricter rules. After all, it’s easy to catch charlatans with no real skills, but if a true master wants to do something bad, it’s a disaster.” He looked at his third grandfather. “What do you think?”

"That's what I mean, but to someone like me who naturally loves freedom and a carefree attitude, it's definitely too repressive." Third Grandfather smiled and directed Xue Mu to flip the meat over. "Look at this color, it's a little charred. Flip it again, and the meat will be very fragrant when grilled this way."

"When it comes to food, if Uncle admits to being second, no one dares to claim to be first."

“Hey, there’s always someone better, you can’t be so sure of yourself.” Third Grandfather chuckled and said, “My master is different from me. He was always cautious and prudent when he was young.” He looked at Xue Ruitian and Shen Cha, “You know that, right?”

“Yes!” Shen Cha nodded. “She’s cold and doesn’t like to interact with people. Otherwise, that kind of thing wouldn’t have happened when she was living outside.”

“Indeed.” Third Grandfather took a sip of tea and waved to Xia Chen, who handed him the second serving of fish. “You guys eat. The shrimp is done grilling. Give me a few. I love those.” He grabbed a handful of melon seeds and continued, “Even after returning to the Yun family, he still has this personality. However, the children in the Yun family who are about his age have similar personalities, so he doesn’t seem special.”

“That won’t happen, right?” “That’s how it is.” Third Grandfather cracked a few melon seeds. “After he went back, he went to study at the Yun family’s own academy, just like other children his age.”

"The Yun family's own academy?"

"Yunshan Academy is quite a famous academy."

"Huh? This name." Qi Zhifeng, who was engrossed in his food, suddenly heard a familiar name, looked up at Third Grandfather, and said, "I've heard of this place."

"Of course you've heard that your maternal grandfather also studied at Yunshan Academy when he was young."

"This isn't the Yun family's own academy? Outsiders are allowed in?"

"Of course, Yunshan Academy also accepts students from outside the academy. Otherwise, how could such a large family like the Yun family maintain normal operations? Yunshan Academy isn't cheap, you know. I vaguely remember it being [amount] per month."

"One hundred taels of silver." Xia Chen finished the last fish test and placed it in front of Xue Ruitian. He then started grilling the large basin of shrimp, saying as he grilled, "However, it's not certain. It depends on the situation. If a student is from a poor family and their family really can't afford that much silver, but they are smart and do well in their studies, not only can they be exempted from paying the one hundred taels, but Yunshan Academy can also provide a certain amount of subsidy."

"subsidy?"

"For example, if you get straight A's in several small tests, you will receive a certain amount of money as a subsidy. There are different levels, and the classification is very detailed. I've only heard about it, but I haven't studied it in detail."

"I see." Shen Cha nodded, then looked at Qi Zhifeng. "Are the children from the family and the students recruited from outside the family taught by the same teachers?"

"Of course, they all study together, there's no difference." Third Grandfather looked at Qi Zhifeng, who was wrinkling his nose, and said, "What's wrong?"

“My maternal grandfather said that the teachers at Yunshan Academy were very strict. If he had been like me back then, always slacking off, he would definitely have been given extra lessons by the teachers at the academy. The amount of extra lessons depended on just how idle the child was.”

“Yes.” Third Grandfather nodded. “The teachers at Yunshan Academy are very strict, but not just in a simple way. They also have a clear system of rewards and punishments. If you do well in your studies, they will praise you and give you rewards. If you do not do well in your studies, they will not scold or punish you first. Instead, they will ask you if there is anything you do not understand. If it is not because you do not understand, but simply because you are lazy, then they will resort to punishment.”

"Isn't this great? How can it be depressing?"

“Oppressive.” Qi Zhifeng finished the meat on his plate, wiped his mouth, and said, “My maternal grandfather said that the competitive spirit among them was extremely strong. Everyone was working harder than the last, and some even stayed up all night reading. This kind of environment seems okay for a short time, but if it goes on for too long, it becomes really oppressive.” He spread his hands in front of everyone and said, “My grandfather said that every year, some people who couldn’t bear this pressure jumped off the mountain behind the academy.”